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801 US billionaires control a record $6.2 trillion in wealth.The bottom 50% of Americans control $3.7 trillion in wealth.
When 801 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem. So says a long ago Secretary of Labor on social media post.
I assume, but can’t verify, these numbers are correct, but in any case I have to ask, what exactly is the problem? Sour grapes?
I attempted to learn the answer using AI, but could not find an answer that was on point and logical -yes, my opinion – except one.
That one answer is consistent with the opinion of many economists who don’t see great wealth as a problem, but rather the potential for great influence, great political influence, but of course that is not limited to billionaires or even individuals and as they say, it takes two to tango.
The wealth of others does not stop opportunity for me or anyone else. In some ways it creates new opportunities. Think of all the opportunities for products and services created by Apple and Microsoft. Consider the positive impact on retirement savings as stock values boosted account balances when the billionaires accumulated their wealth.
I look at many billionaires and think about the companies, even industries they created, the hundreds of thousands of jobs, the wealth and opportunities for others created in the process. In many cases their positive impact goes beyond their organization and includes their vendors and suppliers. Amazon has created many opportunities for small businesses who sell through them.
How did they accumulate great wealth? Mostly by investing, by the power of the stock market and later other types of investing. Isn’t that what we all strive for, except we didn’t start a company and issue an IPO while owning a few million shares.
If only I had made better use of my garage – I never had a dorm room.
In my opinion society can claim a net benefit even if these entrepreneurs paid no taxes and that does not include the philanthropic efforts of many super wealthy. Next time you visit a library there is a chance it’s there because one of those gilded age billionaires, Mr. Carnegie.
My net worth is 200 times that of my parents after adjusting for inflation. I don’t feel guilty. I invested, I saved. All of us have more wealth than someone else and someone else has more than us.
Reading what appears on HD shows investing and accumulating wealth, even planning to avoid or minimize taxes is considered smart and indeed it is. I see no reason to apply different standards based on the amount of money involved.
Becoming a billionaire fairly and honestly is a to be admired accomplishment not a envious moan about problem.
“I look at many billionaires and think about the companies, even industries they created”
That is truly elitist. Billionaires don’t single handedly create companies & industries.
Even billionaires admit that by their actions. Oh sure, when their companies are skyrocketing in value, they act like they are solely responsible.
But then when their companies lose value? Suddenly, they discover that all the other workers are solely responsible for the loss, billionaires never take a pay cut.
Worse, billionaires demand socialism for the rich, getting massive bailouts after they crashed the economy in the Great Recession; blackmailing cities to build stadiums for their private sports teams, and much, much more.
Even worse, life expectancy is lower in more unequal societies, even for the wealthy.
Billionaire factory farm owners overuse antibiotics on healthy animals. This leads
to antibiotic resistance — which already kills 40,000+ Americans a year, and very
well could lead to the next deadly, uncontrollable epidemic.
Billionaires can commit crimes with immunity, for instance dumping toxic waste on us.
This means deadly cancer and other bad health outcomes for all of us.
This post is not about individuals, their behavior or personality, it is about the idea that billionaires are not bad for society, they do not block opportunities rather more like create them and on balance most billionaires have a net positive impact on society.
Political activities have nothing to do with it. It doesn’t take a billionaire to create and distribute false and misleading information.
Musk and Zuckerberg political activities are a pretty effective counter to your entire argument. I think social media’s control over civic discourse has changed the entire argument.
When people amass these huge fortunes and then spend them controlling our government, the consequences are dire and disastrous and will get worse. It started with the Kochs, and “Project 2025” will destroy America, all funded by right wing billionaires.
The US defense relies heavily on Starlink and NASA on SpaceX. Remember when Musk cut Ukraine off of Starlink? Do we really want our national security dependent on Elon?
Look at Zuckerberg’s recent transformation. He believes in “companies not countries”. He also says “Meta” has no responsibility for stopping falsehoods about vaccinations, election deniers, etc and is sorry he apologized to parents whose kids killed themselves because of Facebook pressure. With his money he apparently can do anything he wants.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/27/mark-zuckerberg-metaverse-ai-elections-mental-health?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Billionaires are the problem. None of them got there by being nice or supporting the common good. Bill Gates was cited by the NLRB for employment violations when Microsoft had fewer than 50 employees. The example of the Whaltons giving money for art museums ignores the fact that Walmart destroyed previously vibrant small town businesses.
Okay, one more post, then I’ll shut up.
1. I fail to see how social media “controls” civil discourse. It’s the people who post on social media who choose to either act civilly or not. Those who don